Method and system for automatically estimating the spatial positions of cameras in a camera network

1. A method for automatically estimating the spatial positions between cameras in a camera network, the method comprising transmitting unique identifying signals between a plurality of spatially separated nearby cameras; wherein said identifying signals comprise identifying signals selected from the group consisting of electromagnetic identifying signals, RF identifying signals, infra-red identifying signals and ultrasonic identifying signals; measuring the received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), or time difference of arrival (TDOA) of said identifying signals; and estimating the relative distances or positions between at least some cameras from said received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements to thereby determine the neighboring relationship among said at least some cameras.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising estimating the absolute location of at least one unknown camera from estimations of said relative distances between said at least one unknown camera and at least three cameras at known absolute locations and the known absolute locations thereof using a geometry based calculation.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising estimating the absolute location of a plurality of unknowns camera using a discover-locate process comprising discovering at least one unknown camera of said plurality of unknown cameras in the vicinity of at least three cameras at absolute known locations based on the estimated relative distances between said unknown camera and said at least three cameras; and estimating the absolute location of said discovered at least one unknown camera from estimations of said relative distances between said at least one unknown camera and said at least three cameras and the known locations thereof using a geometry based calculation; and estimating the absolute location of said plurality of unknown cameras throughout the network by cascading said discover-locate process throughout the camera network; wherein cascading said discover-locate process comprises repeating both said steps of discovering at least one unknown camera and estimating the absolute location thereof using at least one previously discovered and located camera as a camera at a known location for the purpose of discovering and locating at least one other unknown camera until all cameras at unknown locations throughout said camera network are discovered and the absolute locations thereof have been estimated.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising annotating said absolute locations of said cameras on a plan or map of the environment in which said camera network is installed.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining at least one camera in the proximity of an event of interest detected by a sensor by comparing the estimated absolute locations of said cameras to the predetermined absolute location of said sensor.

6. A method for automatically estimating the spatial positions between cameras in a camera network, the method comprising transmitting unique radio frequency identifying (RFID) signals between a plurality of spatially separated nearby cameras; measuring the received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), or time difference of arrival (TDOA) of said RFID signals; and estimating the relative distances or positions between each camera and each other camera from said received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements to thereby determine the neighboring relationship among cameras in a camera network.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising estimating the absolute location of a plurality of unknown cameras throughout the network using a cascading discover-locate process, said cascading discover-locate process comprising discovering at least one unknown camera in the vicinity of at least three cameras at absolute known locations based on the estimated relative distances between said unknown camera and said at least three cameras; estimating the absolute location of said discovered at least one unknown camera from estimations of said relative distances between said discovered at least one unknown camera and said at least three cameras and the known locations thereof using a geometry based calculation; and repeating said steps of discovering said at least one unknown camera and estimating the absolute location thereof using at least one previously discovered and located camera as a camera at a known absolute location for the purpose of discovering and locating at least one other unknown camera until all of said plurality of cameras at unknown locations are discovered and the absolute locations thereof have been estimated.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising annotating the discovered absolute location of said unknown cameras on a plan or map representing an environment in which said camera network is installed.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein said step of estimating said relative distances from the received signal strength measurements comprises: measuring the received signal strengths of said RFID signals; and correlating said measured signal strengths to predetermined strength-to-distance measurements for RFID signals transmitted at substantially the same signal strength as said RFID signals.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising estimating the absolute location of at least one lost camera from estimations of said relative distances among at least one unknown camera and at least three cameras at known positions and the known locations of the least there cameras using a geometry based calculation.

12. A system for estimating the spatial positions of cameras in a camera network, the system comprising a plurality of spatially separated cameras carrying transceivers adapted and arranged to transmit unique identifying signals between nearby cameras; and a controller, operably linked to said transceivers, adapted and arranged to estimate the relative positions or distances between at least some cameras from the received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), or time difference of arrival (TDOA) of RFID signals to thereby determine the neighboring relationship said at least some cameras.

13. The system of 12 , wherein said controller is configured to discover said at least one unknown camera in the vicinity of at least three cameras at absolute known locations based on the estimated relative distances between said unknown camera and said at least three cameras; and wherein said controller is further configured to estimate the absolute location of said at least one unknown camera from estimations of said relative distances between said at least one unknown camera and said at least three cameras and the known locations thereof using a geometry based calculation; and wherein said controller is configured to repeatedly discover another at least one unknown camera and estimate the absolute location thereof using at least one previously discovered and located camera as a camera at a known location for the purpose of discovering and locating at least one another unknown camera until a plurality of all cameras at unknown locations are discovered and the absolute locations thereof have been estimated.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said geometric calculation comprises a multilateration calculation.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a graphical user interface operably linked to said controller and wherein said controller is adapted and arranged to render said estimated locations of said cameras on a plan or map of an environment displayed on said graphical user interface.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein said controller is adapted and arranged to identify at least one camera in the proximity of an event of interest detected by a sensor by comparing the absolute locations of said cameras to a predetermined absolute location of said sensor.